Obamacare saving hospitals millions

http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/obamacare-saving-hospital-millions/article_944683a3-13ba-5d4d-9fb9-b6af9bc06a93.html?mode=jqm

Mar. 29, 2015

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says hospitals across the nation are experiencing fewer losses under the Affordable Care Act, even in states like Georgia that have declined to fully participate in the federal program.

In 2014, five years after Congress enacted Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act is commonly referred to, the amount of uncompensated care costs reported by hospitals from coast to coast dropped by an estimated $7.4 billion, according to Health and Human Services. The amount is in comparison to what it would have been without federal health care.

Even in states like Georgia, where the governor and legislature have refused to expand Medicaid coverage, hospitals are reporting lower levels of uncompensated costs. Uninsured and underinsured patients are putting less strain on the budgets of public hospitals.

That includes Southeast Georgia Health System, which operates hospitals in Brunswick and in St. Marys.

During a 10-month period that ended Feb. 28, uncompensated medical costs shouldered by the health system decreased by about $9.2 million, said Michael D. Scherneck, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Southeast Georgia Health System.

That’s a 12.1 percent change from the level for the same 10-month period the previous fiscal year. The total amount for that fiscal year reached $75.8 million, according to Scherneck.

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“Be reminded ... that the state of Georgia has opted not to expand Medicaid coverage, and as such, there remains a portion of the residents within our community that do not qualify to receive any subsidy on their insurance premiums, and as a result, they remain uninsured,” Scherneck said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said more people would have been covered and hospitals would have saved even more had their states fully embraced the federal program. Of the $7.2 billion decrease in total uncompensated hospital cost, more than half — $5 billion — occurred in states that had expanded Medicaid.

Georgia is one of 22 states that has declined to expand Medicaid.